In 2016–17, the HFPN published two brief summaries highlighting the state of play in Europe in two key areas of heart failure (HF) policy and care: diagnosis and clinical management.
The diagnosis summary was published in late 2016 and the clinical management summary followed in May 2017, launched on Heart Failure Awareness Day.
The summaries are based on a literature review across 12 countries in Europe, and focus on key topics within the two themes. In diagnosis, the two focus topics are inequalities in access to echocardiography in HF diagnosis and low use of natriuretic peptide testing in HF. In clinical management, the three focus topics are multidisciplinary disease-management programmes in HF, discharge planning and specialist follow-up, and HF specialist nursing.
The summaries highlight key policy priorities and make recommendations for policymakers to address them.
The state of play summaries provide an overview of key issues in the diagnosis and clinical management of HF, with examples from countries across Europe. They will be of interest to policymakers, patient organisations, healthcare professionals and anyone advocating for policy change in heart failure.
The diagnosis summary makes three key recommendations for policymakers: to understand what is really happening for the diagnosis of HF, to raise awareness of HF and equip the healthcare workforce with the necessary skills to diagnose it effectively, and to tackle access issues and delays in diagnosis.
The clinical management summary’s key recommendations are to define a national vision for multidisciplinary HF management programmes, to ensure transparency and accountability of those programmes, and to invest in sustainable models of care.
The development of the state of play summaries was supported through grants from Novartis Pharma and St Jude Medical.